Support
by Lady Arreya
Summary: Q Junior convenes a support group for "the rejected suitors of B'Elanna Torres." Takes place after the episode "Q2." Slightly AU. P/T, Icheb, Q Junior, Vorik, Bristow.


Title: Support  
Summary: Q Junior convenes a support group for "the rejected suitors of B'Elanna Torres." Takes place after the episode "Q2." Slightly AU. P/T, Icheb, Q Junior, Vorik, Bristow.  
Rating: T

* * *

It was nearing the end of Alpha shift, and Engineering was bustling with activity.

Icheb looked around surreptitiously, hoping to catch a glimpse of B'Elanna.

She was constantly in his thoughts.

When B'Elanna smiled at him, when she complimented him, he felt all warm and tingly inside. Excited, exulted, every time he anticipated seeing her again. His pulse jumped whenever she was near.

It had all started at the science fair, when she'd scrutinized the high-resolution gravimetric sensor array he'd developed and expressed admiration for his ingenuity. He'd felt startled at first that she'd taken notice. All of her attention had been focused on him as she'd continued asking him questions about his project, and he'd felt immense pride when he'd realized that she truly thought he had something valuable to offer. She wasn't easy to impress. He'd basked in the glow of that pleasure for hours afterwards.

Then after he'd detected the charge imbalance in the EPS feed during the maintenance overhaul, he'd been temporarily assigned to Engineering.

They'd been replacing relays in the Jefferies tube, just the two of them. He'd deliberately wrapped his hand around hers to take the relay. When they'd touched, he'd felt hot all over.

B'Elanna evoked so many new feelings in him that he had never felt before. And he liked that. He craved it.

Her range of emotions was so broad, so intense. More so than anyone else on the ship. He wanted to experience it all.

He'd let himself imagine that B'Elanna returned his feelings. But then Lieutenant Paris had challenged him to race cars on the holodeck, and he'd panicked.

It wasn't until much later that he'd realized the extent of his own stupidity.

B'Elanna had never had the slightest romantic interest in him. She'd merely been trying to mentor him the way she did her junior officers.

And Lieutenant Paris hadn't perceived him as a threat. It had been ludicrous to think that he would consider him competition or be jealous of him.

Icheb felt like such a fool. What had he thought could happen? That he and B'Elanna could carry on a torrid affair behind her husband's back? How? When? Where?

He'd had a valuable opportunity to learn directly from the chief engineer, to assist with repairs in a meaningful way. And he'd squandered it.

Now he realized he'd completely misread their intentions and had utterly humiliated himself by revealing his ignorance about the most rudimentary of social interactions.

How could he have been so wrong? He felt demoralized, dejected.

It wasn't fair. Non-Borg had years to figure it out. Even Naomi Wildman was sophisticated in her understanding of the complexities of social interactions compared to him. And she had a loving mother and gregarious godfather to guide her. All Icheb had was Seven. And while he was deeply attached to her, he had to acknowledge that as another ex-Borg, her social development had been stunted as well.

Maybe he should ask the Doctor for more social skills lessons.

Icheb sighed quietly. These days, B'Elanna usually maintained her distance from him and had him report to Lieutenant Nicoletti or Ensign Vorik whenever he was working in Engineering as part of his Academy training.

He resumed scanning the open panel in front of him with a tricorder, trying to find the source of the malfunction that he'd been assigned to work on, when he was momentarily blinded by a bright flash of light.

"Itchy!"

"Q-ball," he acknowledged in surprise, staring at the young man who had suddenly appeared.

Suddenly, B'Elanna came storming over.

"What are you doing here, Q Junior?" she demanded.

"Just came by to visit my best friend," Q Junior proclaimed, jauntily throwing his arm around Icheb's shoulders.

"You mean your only friend," B'Elanna muttered under her breath.

Icheb tried to make himself inconspicuous. He was glad to see Q Junior but was afraid to incite B'Elanna's wrath.

"Aunt Kathy said I could visit every now and again," Q Junior said innocently. "And it's okay with Dad."

B'Elanna eyed him suspiciously, but he merely batted his eyelashes at her.

It was apparent that Q Junior wasn't going to reveal anything more about why he had chosen to visit.

Making a frustrated sound, B'Elanna tapped her combadge.

"Torres to Bridge."

"Go ahead," Captain Janeway replied.

"Q Junior just appeared in Main Engineering."

"What does he want?"

"He says he's here to visit Icheb."

"Keep me posted," the captain said.

"I can help with the repairs," Q Junior offered sweetly.

B'Elanna glared at him. "I don't want you touching anything!"

"You don't trust me?" he said, feigning a wounded look.

"Trust you?" she said in disbelief. "Last time you were here you turned Engineering into a disco dance nightclub and nearly caused a warp core breach!"

"All I wanted was one dance with you, B'Elanna," he called out after her as she stomped back to her office on the other side of Engineering. "Just one dance!"

"Whew. What a woman," Q Junior said appreciatively, still looking back towards where B'Elanna had disappeared out of sight.

"I don't think it's a good idea to provoke her, Q-ball."

Q Junior laughed. "But it's so easy. And so much fun. I just can't help myself."

Icheb regarded him dubiously.

He tried to re-focus on the task at hand, but it was difficult with Q Junior there distracting him.

"You still have a crush on her, Itchy?" Q Junior whispered conspiratorially.

An embarrassed flush crept up Icheb's face and neck. It was damned inconvenient having a best friend who was omnipotent and omniscient.

"Can't say I blame you, pal," Q Junior said with a melodramatic sigh. "She's beautiful. A brilliant engineer. And feisty."

"Lieutenant Torres is happily married," Icheb replied, deflecting the question. "My feelings towards her are irrelevant."

"No, they're not. Feelings are never irrelevant. Especially when they're about a woman like her. She's the kind of woman who would inspire any man's fantasies. Heated embraces in the turbolift. Passionate trysts on the holodeck. Secret rendezvous in the Jefferies Tubes. Illicit liaisons on the upper level of Main Engineering. Smoldering kisses on the Bridge in front of all the senior officers."

Icheb broke out into a sweat. Suddenly, his fantasies seemed very tame by comparison. Sedate, almost.

"Oh, wait. She's already done all of that with Tom Paris," Q Junior took great delight in telling him.

Icheb stared at him in consternation.

"Have I scandalized you, Itchy?" Q Junior asked with an expression of mock horror.

"I know what you're thinking," he continued. "You'd expect more professional conduct and a sense of decorum from two respectable senior officers such as Lieutenants Paris and Torres. But those two have never been able to keep their hands off of each other. They both have a rebellious streak. Not to mention rather colorful histories of defying authority. They have to let off steam somehow. And discretion has never been their strong suit."

Icheb knew that Q Junior was right. They were madly, passionately in love. He could see that now.

"Want to take a guess how many times they've done it in the _Delta Flyer_?" Q Junior said mischievously.

"The _Delta Flyer_?" Icheb repeated faintly, dismayed. The _Delta Flyer_ he'd been learning to fly? He'd just been sitting in the pilot's seat a few days ago.

"That's the first place they did it," Q Junior told him gleefully, reading his thoughts again. "The pilot's seat. Then in the back, the front, on the floor, against the bulkheads, and pretty much everywhere in between. Remember, they honeymooned there. Their own cozy little private love nest. Bet you'll never be able to get on board again without thinking about THAT."

Icheb's mind was spinning as he tried to process Q Junior's words. Images were flashing unbidden through his head.

Q Junior wasn't finished yet.

"You know why B'Elanna wanted to go rock climbing with you, buddy? Because she actually wanted to go rock climbing. If she went with Tom, the only rock she'd be climbing is his rock-hard…"

Icheb squeezed his eyes tightly shut, as if that would help. He really should have clapped his hands over his ears if he wanted to block out the sound of Q Junior's voice, but some perverse part of him wanted to hear all the graphic, lurid details. He couldn't help it. He was still only a horny teenage boy, after all.

"Abs," Q Junior finished smugly.

Icheb's eyes flew open. He frowned. He was fairly sure that was not what Q Junior had originally intended to say. He'd started with the singular, and "abs" was plural.

"She has to go to the holodeck with people other than Tom if she wants to do anything other than… him."

Q Junior had a crude sense of humor, but Icheb couldn't help but be titillated.

"Admit it, Itchy. You can't stop thinking about her, even though she's way out of your league."

Hearing the sound of someone nearby clearing his throat, they looked up. It was Ensign Vorik.

"Lieutenant Torres sent me over here to supervise your progress," he told them dispassionately.

Icheb suddenly realized that Vorik must have overheard their entire conversation. Vulcan hearing was far superior to that of humans. And Brunalis.

He closed his eyes, feeling mortified and completely exposed.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about, Itchy," Q Junior told him heartily, clapping him on the back. "Vorik here knows firsthand what's it's like to be rejected by her too."

Icheb had heard about what had happened even though it had been long before his arrival on _Voyager_. The _pon farr_. He was curious. He couldn't help but be.

"And once wasn't enough," Q Junior continued with a knowing smirk. "So she had to beat him unconscious before he finally got the message."

"That is not –," Vorik began, but Q Junior didn't let him finish.

"See, buddy, you're not the only one who's been shot down by B'Elanna," Q Junior reassured Icheb. "Not by far."

Vorik shifted uncomfortably, and Q Junior read his thoughts.

"There's someone else, isn't there? Ensign Freddie Bristow. She turned him down too."

Q Junior concentrated for a minute.

"Bristow's in the Mess Hall. Let's go join him," he proclaimed. With a snap of his fingers and a flash of light, the trio disappeared, leaving the rest of the crew in Engineering astonished.

"Lieutenant Torres!" Nicoletti called out.

B'Elanna looked up from the console in her office. "What is it, Sue?"

"Q Junior, Icheb and Vorik just vanished," Nicoletti informed her.

B'Elanna growled in frustration. It was almost the end of their shift, but now someone else would have to finish the work they hadn't completed.

"Torres to Janeway. Captain, Q Junior just disappeared with Icheb and Vorik."

"They're in the Mess Hall," the captain replied. "Neelix just called me on the com to tell me."

* * *

(To be continued in Chapter 2…)


End file.
